One of the great untapped Stephen King properties is on its way to finally beginning production after years of false starts, dreamy rumors, and casting issues. The Dark Towerseries, King’s famous story of a hero named The Gunslinger and his nemesis, The Man in Black, recently finally got a confirmed director in Nikolaj Arcel, who is best known for helming the Mads Mikkelsen-Alicia Vikander period drama A Royal Affair; he’s also co-penned the script for the film. And in a recent interview alongside King for EW, Arcel went on to confirm that the film will star none other than Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in the coveted lead roles. Here’s what the writer-director had to say about both performers:

On Elba:

“For me, it just clicked. He’s such a formidable man…I had to go to Idris and tell him my vision for the entire journey with Roland and the ka-tet. We discussed, who is this character? What’s he about? What’s his quest? What’s his psychology? We tried to figure out if we saw the same guy. And we absolutely had all the same ideas and thoughts. He had a unique vision for who Roland would be.”

Click to expand...

On McConaughey:

“Matthew is an incredible actor who can do anything. That’s how I feel about Walter Padick. He could do anything…He is this timeless sorcerer, and being a Stephen King fan, I’ve read and experienced Walter in various iterations. He has a very interesting way of seeing the world. He sees it with a sort of delight, even though he is obviously on the wrong side of the light-and-dark spectrum. He’s someone I’ve been having a lot of fun with.”

Click to expand...

It’s been a long time since I personally picked up The Dark Tower series but Elba has been deserving of this sort of major franchise property for several years at this point; if Luther didn’t prove this, I don’t know what would. This, unfortunately, puts a likely damper on his chances of taking on the role of James Bond, a rumor that caused quite the kerfuffel late last year, around the time Spectre hit theaters. Regardless, if memory serves, Elba is the perfect choice for his role, and to see McConaughey in all-out villain mode is that rare treat that has been long overdue for a second helping. If you’ve been lucky enough to see William Friedkin‘s damn-near-perfect Killer Joe, you’ll know what I mean.

During the interview, King confirmed that the film will begin in the middle of the novel’s story, but will encompass the entire storyline that fans have come to love over the years. Meanwhile, Arcel mentioned that the film is set to begin shooting in under two months in South Africa, keeping eyes set on a January 13th, 2017 release date, which means we’re under a year away from seeing the finished product. It’s a tight deadline for release but Arcel seems to have his hands firmly around this thing. Speaking like a true fan, Arcel commented on why he thinks The Dark Tower is quintessential Stephen King, settling out many fears of this being a possible botch job:

“For me, it just clicked. He’s such a formidable man…I had to go to Idris and tell him my vision for the entire journey with Roland and the ka-tet. We discussed, who is this character? What’s he about? What’s his quest? What’s his psychology? We tried to figure out if we saw the same guy. And we absolutely had all the same ideas and thoughts. He had a unique vision for who Roland would be.”“Matthew is an incredible actor who can do anything. That’s how I feel about Walter Padick. He could do anything…He is this timeless sorcerer, and being a Stephen King fan, I’ve read and experienced Walter in various iterations. He has a very interesting way of seeing the world. He sees it with a sort of delight, even though he is obviously on the wrong side of the light-and-dark spectrum. He’s someone I’ve been having a lot of fun with.”“What Stephen King does best is mixing the everyday, or what you might call the mundane, with the fantastical…In my view, [The Dark Tower] novels are a mix between sci-fi and fantasy and modern times. That exact mix is so Stephen King.”

Hmm, I think Elba's awesome, and I don't mind the casting, even though I always pictured Roland like Clint Eastwood circa his late 40's. Will require a lot of rewriting of the Detta/Roland scenes since she calls him a honkey motherfucker a few hundred times iirc, and doesn't trust him in large part because he's white.

Hmm... Stringer Bell is Roland? MM is awesome and will be great but.... Roland... I'm not sure this is the right move, but I hope it's a quarter as good as the books.

Click to expand...

He has a hand in every movie made adapted from his books. If he doesn't like something, it gets tossed. So, it should follow the book as best as possible in the most likely 2 hour timeframe they have for the movie.

Hmm, I think Elba's awesome, and I don't mind the casting, even though I always pictured Roland like Clint Eastwood circa his late 40's. Will require a lot of rewriting of the Detta/Roland scenes since she calls him a honkey motherfucker a few hundred times iirc, and doesn't trust him in large part because he's white.

Click to expand...

Yeah that is the way I pictured Roland when reading the books too. Don't get me wrong, this is not meant to incite racist comments but why do they have to put a black guy as a character that was CLEARLY written as a white guy? Fucking hate that shit. Stay as true to story as possible. I may not watch this now.
My initial reaction was to the thread title without having read the body of the first post, now that I went back and read the whole post about who is being cast I am not as enthused.

Yeah that is the way I pictured Roland when reading the books too. Don't get me wrong, this is not meant to incite racist comments but why do they have to put a black guy as a character that was CLEARLY written as a white guy? Fucking hate that shit. Stay as true to story as possible. I may not watch this now.
My initial reaction was to the thread title without having read the body of the first post, now that I went back and read the whole post about who is being cast I am not as enthused.

Click to expand...

I first thought MM was going to be Roland, which would have been good since Roland is kind of similar to the guy he played in True Detective, and they mention Roland's bombardier blue eyes. Guess we'll see, my initial thought is skeptical, but I've waited since I was a teenager for the series to finish, which I finally got, so anything else is gravy. Saw this elsewhere, but it'd be incredible if at the beginning when Roland is chasing the man in black across the desert they pan to his waist and he has the Horn of Eld, which for book readers would be huge.

I first thought MM was going to be Roland, which would have been good since Roland is kind of similar to the guy he played in True Detective, and they mention Roland's bombardier blue eyes. Guess we'll see, my initial thought is skeptical, but I've waited since I was a teenager for the series to finish, which I finally got, so anything else is gravy. Saw this elsewhere, but it'd be incredible if at the beginning when Roland is chasing the man in black across the desert they pan to his waist and he has the Horn of Eld, which for book readers would be huge.

Click to expand...

Yeah Matthew would have made a great Roland. He is gritty enough to pull it off.

He has a hand in every movie made adapted from his books. If he doesn't like something, it gets tossed. So, it should follow the book as best as possible in the most likely 2 hour timeframe they have for the movie.

Click to expand...

Idk....most of the movies have sucked in the past. And have been much different than the books.

I first thought MM was going to be Roland, which would have been good since Roland is kind of similar to the guy he played in True Detective, and they mention Roland's bombardier blue eyes. Guess we'll see, my initial thought is skeptical, but I've waited since I was a teenager for the series to finish, which I finally got, so anything else is gravy. Saw this elsewhere, but it'd be incredible if at the beginning when Roland is chasing the man in black across the desert they pan to his waist and he has the Horn of Eld, which for book readers would be huge.